Welcome to Giving Hands and Hope! Giving Hands, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to finding the cause of and creating a solution for children with congenital limb differences. Our hope is to educate and inspire with facts and fun tales. Please join us in our mission to make a difference in the lives of children born with these challenges.

We are planning to host a number of special events throughout 2012. If you have an idea for a fundraising event, or would like to get involved in planning an event, please let us know through our contact page.

Signup for more ways you can help Giving Hands and information on upcoming events.

Our inspiration for our website and our mission are Starfish and Salamanders, as well as the Bumble bee! It is truly amazing how much we can learn from the beautiful and “simple” creatures God has blessed this world with.

Mammals are among the unlucky few in the animal kingdom who have lost the ability to regenerate body parts beyond the fetal stage. However, a growing number of scientist as well as the US government are on the path to discovering the key to unlocking the regeneration mystery. Humans have the ability to regenerate to some degree: every day the human body replaces an estimated 10 billion cells, including those in the liver, skin and blood.

These scientists are on the trail to harnessing the body’s natural regenerative abilities to replace injured or lost limbs and tissue much the same way Starfish and Salamanders can re-grow lost limbs. Recently, studies have shown humans possess some of the same genes and communication pathways used by some of nature’s most remarkably regenerative animals. Until we can prevent limb differences all together, we hope that through research we will learn how to correct these differences by regenerating new limbs with full form and function.

We are equally inspired by the Bumble Bee! The idea that it is aerodynamically impossible for a bumble bee to fly has been imbedded in folklore since the 1930s. The story began its circulation in the German technical universities. According to the accepted scientific theory of the day, it was impossible for bumble bees to fly by the laws of physics because they didn’t generate enough lift with their small wings given the weight of their bodies.

Dawn Matheson, creator of Ruby Lee the Bumble Bee: A Bee’s Bit of Wisdom, uses the idea behind the legend in her thoughtful book that teaches children the importance of believing in oneself. In the story, the young girl’s neighbor tells her the legend of the bumble bee: “When God made the bumble bee, it shouldn’t have been able to fly, but God whispered in its ear, ‘You can do it.’ The bee trusted Him, and so it flew.” The determined bumble bee had the courage to do what seemed impossible at the time, and just kept on flying, believing, that science would catch up to it sooner or later.

Despite the early scientific theory that a bumble bee's body is far too big for their little wings, and shouldn’t be able to fly, bumble bees conquered what seemed impossible at the time and in doing so became a motivational legend. The bumble bee ‘bee-lieved’ in the divine engineer that specifically considered the aerodynamics of the bumble bee, even before modern science could understand it. All that was needed was for science to catch up to the bumble bee. And, sometimes, that is all it ever takes with anything, because in time, all things come to light. We ‘bee-lieve’ the divine engineer also specifically considered the limb differences of these children, and our mission is to give a hand to assist science in catching up. We ‘bee-lieve’ in unLIMBited possibilities!